On Death & Dying: Composting Series 1: Denial

I decided that I wanted to start composting in our backyard last May.  I researched different containers: ready made vs. build your own, I tried to learn what you could compost and what you couldn't: I refuse to compost nail and hair clippings. I stressed out over how big, how moist and how smelly my pile might be and stayed up night worrying that I wouldn't do it right and would be saddled with a giant pile of stinky mush.  Neighbors would complain, wildlife would be drawn to it to forage, babies and children would cry at the sight of it and so forth.

None of my worst nightmares happened and what I actually discovered is that composting is nearly fool proof.  If you barely tend to it, you'll eventually get compost (like 2 years).  If you tend to it a lot, you'll get compost really quickly (3 months)!

The first of the Death & Dying series will be focused on Denial.  There are many ways to be in denial on the topic of composting.  You might lie to yourself and say, "this banana peel can just go in the landfill, it will eventually break down."  "I don't want to compost because it it gross/smelly/icky/weird/I live in the city/I don't have time/only crunchy granola people do it."  Let me help you get out of denial and take the first step in composting.

1.  No, that banana peel will take forever to break down in a landfill because you're going to throw it away in a plastic trash bag.  Nature won't be able to get to that banana peel to compost it for about 10 years!
2.  Composting is allowed in the city and surprisingly few of nature's creatures will be interested in it.  I am not crunchy but I love composting.  It's the real life version of playing those farm games on Facebook like Farmville or Oregon Trail.  Put down your laptop and go interact with some microbes!
3.  My first batch of compost was so nutrient rich that I accidentally grew some melons in it at the very end of the summer!

Your task this week is to just survey your "land" ie, your backyard and look for a suitable site for your compost pile.  Little effort needs to be put into this step, just choose a location that:

• is roughly 4 ft wide x 4 ft long.  You might dig a hole there or place a container on top depending on which method you choose.
• consider placing your pile behind a shed/fence/shrub etc.  Compost isn't ugly but it's not quite as asthetically pleasing as a flower garden.
• is easy to access from your back door.  You'll need to cart your kitchen scraps out 1-2 times a week so it is nice to have a location that is convenient.
• is relatively close to where you keep your garden tools.  I frequently need my pitchfork, garden gloves and a watering can to tend to my pile.

You're done!  Visit me next week to learn about the next stage: Anger, and what steps you can take to move on with composting.